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Give Your Dog A Spring Bath! Grab Fido and wash all that fall and winter smell from his fur. You'll be glad you did. So will Fido! Where To Wash The Dog You can either wash your dog in your bathtub in the house or in a large enough tub to hold the dog safely and comfortably outside. Don't use a garden hose to wash your dog. Water from the hose is far too cold for your pet. Fill the tub partway with hot water. You will need a large bucket to haul the water from your hot water tap. Add enough cold water from your garden hose to make the water comfortably warm. If you are washing your dog outside, make sure all the dog dirt is picked up. When you get the dog out of the tub you don't want him/her to roll in anything unpleasant and stinky. Never wash a dog outside or allow a dog to dry outside on a very hot day. Believe it or not, wetting down a hot animal makes is hotter. Choose a warm day for this task. Supplies You Will Need You will need a large enough tub to hold the dog safely. Hot and cold water to regulate the temperature of the water. A large bucket (you may need 2-3 buckets depending on the size of your dog) filled with warm water to rinse the soap off your dog. Treats to give to your scared pet. You can try using your dog's favorite toy to give him/her comfort. Pet shampoo (you can use a flea or moisture shampoo). A few towels. A good grooming brush. Getting The Dog In The Bath You can try to lure your dog into the tub with toys of treats. Good luck, this usually doesn't work *smile*. What I do is to pick my dog up (you may need an adult or two to do this for you if the dog is large), talk gently to him and tell him he's ok. Then I put him in the tub. You might want to make sure you have a sibling, parent or friend around to comfort your dog while you bath him/her. If your dog is a bit temperamental, you may want to put a muzzle on the dog before getting him/her into the tub. This is for the dogs protection as well as yours. Washing The Dog Using pet shampoo, start with the head and work your way down the dog's body. Be very careful not to get any water in the dog's ears or up it's nose. This is very unpleasant and hurts a dog. Take your time to make sure you get every inch of your dog clean. Pay special attention to the dog's paws. You don't even want to know what your dog steps in on a daily basis. Once you are done washing the dog with shampoo, take your buckets of warm water and pour them over the dog to get all the soap off the body. If you do not get all the soap off, your dog will itch and be very uncomfortable (same as if you didn't wash all the shampoo out of your hair). Drying The Dog Look out!!! When you take your dog out of the tub, be sure to use the towel to cover yourself while he/she shakes the excess water off it's body. Now take your towel and dry up as much water as you can. The dog will dry the rest off himself. Some people use a hair dryer to dry their dog with. If your dog is not afraid of one and you want to use it to dry the dog, go ahead. Just make sure there is no water on the ground that you can step in while using the hair dryer. You will be electrocuted. Also, make sure you continually move the dryer over the dog's body so your do not burn the dogs skin. Grooming The Dog As your dog is drying, brush him/her. You will find a lot of loose fur will come off onto the brush. Make sure you have a garbage can with a lid on it to dispose of this fur. Clean the brush off often as your brush your dog. Brush your dog 2 or 3 times during the drying process and once when he/she is completely dry. Never clip a pets nails unless you know exactly how to do it. If you cut the nails to much you will cut the quick and the pet will bleed a lot. It is often hard to stop the bleeding and is quite painful to the animal. Have your parents or a vet do it for you. Have fun washing your dog this spring! Make it a family event for added giggles and laughs. Be sure to have a camera to take a picture of your sudsy pup or drench family member!

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